An Invitation to All Bowen Islanders

Advancing ARTS & CULTURE on Bowen Island

2017 - 2027 Cultural Master Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary...... 3

A. Introduction...... 13

B. Our Guiding Principles...... 20

C. What is Bowen’s Culture?...... 21

D. Goals, Strategies and Actions...... 27

E. Plan Evaluation & Review...... 58

F. BOWEN 2025: A Thriving Arts-and-Culture Driven Community...... 59

Appendix I Status Of 2004 Cultural Plan Recommendations Appendix II Successes And New Challenges Identified Appendix III BIAC Core Programs/Budget Appendix IV Arts & Cultural Survey Highlights Appendix V Groups Consulted in Developing This Plan Appendix VI Interview Questions Appendix VII 78 Communications & Publicity Appendix VIII List of Research Documents DRAFTAppendix IX List of Abbreviations Appendix X Links to 2004 Cultural Plan, Terms of Reference and Other Documents Appendix XI Master Plan Budget

Page 2 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Bowen is a place where people can become who they want to be.” – Andrea Verwey

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

Why does Bowen Island need a Cultural “Master” Plan? Culture and art happen, planned or not. The motivation for developing a vision and goals along with a strategy to achieve those goals flows from the growing recognition and acknowledgment that arts are integral to our human existence. Culture engages minds, enriches the education of children, and supports lifelong learning. Culture helps define the character or identity of a community in which people feel a sense of belonging. It engages citizens in activities that help build a sense of community, resilience, and civic engagement. Finally, as the community grows, culture celebrates diversity and helps newcomers feel welcome.

Municipalities and cultural organizations have a role to play in building prosperous and diversified local economies and enhancing the quality of life in communities. A plan that reflects the needs of its citizens can inspire and focus activities and propel the community forward.

As Gord Hume wrote, a cultural plan “should offer hope, ideas and opportunities.”

We can use the Cultural Plan as a road-map to orient the community to what is possible, what is affordable, and what is doable with current resources. The Cultural Plan also highlights which actions we should prioritize to achieve our objectives. The major players in creating and implementing theDRAFT Cultural Plan include: 1. The Arts Council – charged with supporting and facilitating arts and culture on Bowen Island and implementing the Plan’s recommendations

2. The Municipality – charged with authorizing, endorsing and funding assistance; and

3. Artists and citizens of the community.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 3 To develop this Cultural Plan, we invited Islanders to tell their stories, and then we listened and looked for patterns in the stories we heard. These stories created possibilities, opportunities, and challenges that we hadn’t yet thought of and which resulted in recommendations that are novel and innovative. We were encouraged by what Islanders told us and inspired by how they challenged us to broaden these recommendations to include and reflect how communities of practice, creative groups, and individuals self-organize to achieve their own objectives. The Plan explores how we can harness the resources of the Arts Council, the Municipality, and arts and cultural groups across the island to support such initiatives. This Plan updates the 2004 Cultural Master Plan that was adopted as a scheduled amendment to the Official Community Plan (OCP) of Bowen Island in 2005 as Municipal Bylaw 129-2004. The amendment was later removed from the OCP and established as a separate Bylaw 297-2011 with the entire Plan incorporated as Schedule A.

At that time, Council reiterated the role of the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC) in the development, amendment, and oversight of implementation of the Plan by stating:

“The Cultural Master Plan shall be a guide for Bowen Island’s arts and cultural development. Council recognizes the Bowen Island Arts Council as the leading advisory organization to Municipal Council for arts and culture development and delegates to the Bowen Island Arts Council responsibility to direct the implementation, in consultation with Bowen Island Municipal Council, of the Cultural Master Plan.”

In the fall of 2014, upon being addressed by representatives of BIAC on the need for a decennial update of the Plan, the Bowen Island Municipal Council authorized the Bowen Island Arts Council to proceed with the review and update of the Cultural Master Plan. BIAC circulated a call for members to join the Cultural Plan Steering Committee. It reached out to a broad representation of the community, including individuals and organizations involved in arts, recreation, tourism, education, healing, health and wellness, heritage, historians, business, First Nations, youth, environmental, and the community at large.

Christine Walker, Manager of Recreation & Community Services at the time represented staff of the Bowen Island Municipality. Councillor Gary Ander was appointed as liaison representing Municipal Council. Initially 14 members of the committee were recruited, with Dave Pollard, a Director of the Board of the Bowen Island Arts Council elected as Chair.

Summary of Process DRAFT In order to complete its work, the Steering Committee created six subcommittees: • Research • Outreach • Sense-Making • Communications • Public Consultation • Writing/Editing

Page 4 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Research: • The Research committee reviewed 24 relevant research documents including a dozen Cultural Plans from other communities, identifying useful data and interesting ideas.

• The Research committee considered and reviewed work that was being undertaken by the Bowen Island Municipality, such as the community survey to help inform the recreational master plan, and the branding process. We remarked on how the branding process paralleled our work and how similar some of our results were. We acknowledge and thank Sheree Johnson and Ed Wachtman of Storytellings Inc., for allowing us to draw from their analysis of the resident survey findings.

Outreach: • The Outreach committee conducted and archived over 50 interviews, mostly by video, and prepared synopses of highlights.

• They prepared, promoted and conducted an online survey that gathered and analyzed responses from over 300 Bowen residents.

Sense-making: • The Sense-making committee reviewed and analyzed the Research and Outreach data for patterns, insights, ideas, successes, challenges, opportunities and needs. As a result, 16 strategic goals were identified, each reflecting the common themes of interviewees and survey respondents.

• Recommendations were developed for each strategic goal to build on identified successes, capitalize on identified opportunities, and address identified needs and challenges.

• The draft includes 38 recommendations and involves potential partnerships with more than 30 groups and members of all sectors of Bowen.

Communications: • The Communications Committee developed a website: BowenCulture.ca, created a short video to explain the process, wrote and published five press releases about the process and progress, set up a booth at Bowfest to explain the work underway, and prepared posters and handouts for distribution.

• Throughout the process, committee members have engaged in conversations with the public about the work and invited anyoneDRAFT with interest to be interviewed and get involved. Public Consultation: • The Public Consultation Committee identified and contacted members of groups and other organizations, businesses, and individuals affected by the draft recommendations. Communication with each group ensued with the goal of obtaining feedback, identifying amendments and achieving agreement.

• The draft Plan was posted to the project website BowenCulture.ca with an invitation for comments.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 5 • Information about the draft was disseminated island-wide via the Undercurrent, and on various websites and social media.

• The draft was presented to various groups including the Snug Cove Business Association, the Economic Development Committee, the Bowen Island Heritage Commission, and the Bowen Island Literacy Task Group. It was featured at the 2016 AGM of BIAC.

Report Writing • Based on the results of the above work, a draft Plan was written. Following public consultation, a number of changes were made and four recommendations were added. An updated draft was then prepared for presentation to Council.

Next Steps Adoption and Community Celebration DRAFT • As directed by Municipal Council, BIAC has completed the process for the review and update of the Cultural Plan. It will present the draft to Council for approval and adoption as a Bylaw of BIM.

• Upon adoption, BIAC will convene a community celebration and roll-out of the new Cultural Plan.

Ongoing Review & Evaluation • Following adoption as a Bylaw of BIM, the Committee will convene a Cultural Plan Review committee to perform the following tasks:

(a) measure and report on progress implementing the Plan, and propose any needed changes to the Plan’s recommendations as circumstances evolve, and

(b) transform the BowenCulture.ca website from an archive to a tool that arts and other groups on Bowen can use to find collaboration partners, initiate projects, create meet-up opportunities, and engage in ongoing explorations and conversations on subjects of interest.

Page 6 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Plan Outline

This Plan describes the objectives, principles and process that were developed and used in its creation, and progress on the recommendations of the previous Plan. It then summarizes our assessment of Bowen Island’s current and evolving culture, introduces the strategic goals and recommendations, and concludes with a future state story envisioning what implementation of this Plan might lead to.

Defining Bowen’s Culture

Much of the “sense-making” work in the Plan was directed at understanding our current and evolving culture: appreciating what we have in common with other communities and what distinguishes us. This appreciation informed our analysis of which strategic goals and recommendations make sense for Bowen, and what it revealed about us was fascinating in its own right. While Section C of the report explains this in detail, following is a “wordle” that captures the essential elements that we found distinguish us most notably.

DRAFT

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 7 Strategic Goals and Recommendations

This Plan includes 16 strategic goals and the 38 recommendations, recommendations that are specific, measurable and realistic. To a large degree, we have discussed these recommendations with the strategic partners identified, exploring ways we can work together to implement them. These recommendations augment and build upon the core programs and activities of the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC), the value and validity of which were fully confirmed by the research and outreach we conducted. These established core programs and activities are described in Appendix III, and they will continue to be a primary focus of BIAC.

The recommendations in this plan are additional ideas, programs and projects that will enhance and expand upon what the Arts Council is already doing, and bring in strategic partners and the community as a whole to play a more active role in advancing arts and culture on Bowen Island. Accordingly, there are no specific timelines for the recommendations in this Plan. We acknowledge that each of the goals and recommendations will be achieved when (and if) we have identified reliable sources of project funding and designated project champions, sponsors and strategic partners. Our intention is that the Plan will be a “living document” that will evolve as needed over the next 10 years, so that the task of updating it in 2027 will be straightforward.

The goals and recommendations are organized into five colour-coded priority bands from highest to lowest as follows: red, orange, green, blue and violet. The Plan’s 38 recommendations are likewise identified using the same priority colour codes. We will strive over the coming decade to accomplish as many of these goals and recommendations as possible, focusing first on the ones with the highest priority, but following the energy of our arts and cultural groups, partners and sponsors in moving forward with each.

Following is a list of the 38 recommendations, by strategic goal, showing priority, the partners involved in implementation, and an estimate of the relative dollar cost and required commitment of volunteer hours for each recommendation. DRAFT

Page 8 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Cultural Master Plan Strategic Goals & Recommendations Priority BIAC Artists BIM/CR/PE Heritage Orgs Youth Sec. Priv. EDC/TBI Library/BICF NPOs Media Govts. Oth. Others* $ Cost Hrs Vol

1. Create Cultural Spaces ✔ ✔ ✔ 1.1 Establish and Operate a Dedicated H VH Cultural Space in Snug Cove ✔ ✔ ✔ 1.2 Build a Multi-Purpose Community Hall and VH VH Performing Arts Space ✔ ✔ 1.3 Conduct a Facilities Inventory M MH ✔ ✔ 1.4 Develop Place-Making Competency L M ✔ ✔ 1.5 Develop Strategy for Additional Arts & M MH Culture Spaces (salon) 2. Reliably Fund the Arts & Culture ✔ ✔ 2.1 Apply for Multi-Year Core Funding from M L BIM 3. Support Public Art and ‘Land Art’ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 3.1 Develop a Public Art Program, Policy, M M Inventory, and Guide ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 3.2 Initiate a Community Land Art Project M L (salon) ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 3.3 Enhance the Bowen Island Heritage Walk M L (salon) 4. Help Artists Make a Better Living ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 4.1 Encourage Art Placement & Artist L M Involvement in Commercial Sector ✔ ✔ ✔ 4.2 Liaise with & support Economic L M Development Committee Arts Initiatives ✔ ✔ ✔ 4.3 Organize Opportunities for Arts Sales L M ✔ ✔ ✔ 4.4 Develop Guide to Starting/Marketing a L M Cultural Enterprise (salon)DRAFT 5. Enable Bowen Artists to Meet and Col- laborate ✔ ✔ 5.1 Enhance biac.ca to Enable Self-Organized M M Amateur Arts Initiatives

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 9 Cultural Master Plan Strategic Goals & Recommendations Priority BIAC Artists BIM/CR/PE Heritage Orgs Youth Sec. Priv. EDC/TBI Library/BICF NPOs Media Govts. Oth. Others* $ Cost Hrs Vol ✔ ✔ 5.2 Facilitate Professional Artist Collaborations L L (salon) 6. Cross-Pollinate Our Diverse Artistic Talents ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 6.1 Enable More Artist/Community Cross- L L Pollination (salon) ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 6.2 Develop an Artist-in-Residence Program MH M

7. Develop Strategies to Prevent Volunteer and Employee Burnout ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 7.1 Establish a Bowen Island Volunteer Centre M M ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 7.2 Establish Volunteer Appreciation L L Strategies 8. Support Awareness of Local Artists in the Global Marketplace ✔ ✔ 8.1 Re-Brand BIAC M M ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 8.2 Improve Arts and Culture Messaging M M ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 8.3 Work with Others to Book Shuttle Buses L L for Arts Events on Bowen 9. Enable Leading Edge Art, Innovation & Technology ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 9.1 Conduct a Workshop on Arts Innovation M M ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 9.2 Conduct a Workshop on Digital Media M M and the Arts ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 9.3 Create an Arts Idea Incubator DRAFT M MH 10. Engage Youth & Families in the Arts ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 10.1 Increase Participation of Youth in Arts L M Programs ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 10.2 Develop a Youth Mentorship Program M M ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 10.3 Establish a Media Arts Initiative M M

Page 10 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Cultural Master Plan Strategic Goals & Recommendations Priority BIAC Artists BIM/CR/PE Heritage Orgs Youth Sec. Priv. EDC/TBI Library/BICF NPOs Media Govts. Oth. Others* $ Cost Hrs Vol

11. Build Pathways to Mastery to Support Artists’ Learning Journeys ✔ ✔ ✔ 11.1 Create Mentorship/Mastery Program for L M Aspiring Artists (salon) ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 11.2 Explore Options for a Professional Arts L L College on Bowen (salon) 12. Celebrate Excellence: Awards, Competitions and Events ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 12.1 Celebrate Arts Through Awards, H H Competitions and Festivals 13. Recognize Art as a Healing and Connecting Resource ✔ ✔ ✔ 13.1 Develop a “Healing Power of the Arts” M L Initiative (salon) ✔ ✔ 13.1 Develop a “Connection Through the M L Arts” Initiative (salon) 14. Acquire a Shared Space Off the Rock ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 14.1 Lease Shared Multi-Use Showcase Space M M on the Mainland (salon) 15. Support Awareness of First Nations Culture ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 15.1 Develop awareness & understanding of M MH connections with First Nations Culture ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 15.2 Celebrate First Nations Culture through M MH events/activities 16. Create Awareness and Protection of Cultural Heritage ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 16.1 Establish Lieben as a HistoricalDRAFT Cultural M ML Site ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 16.2 Create Events Celebrating Our Culture & M MH Heritage

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 11 Conclusion “We dance for laugh-

ter, we dance for BIAC has come a long way since we last presented our Cultural Master Plan in 2005. Much of what was tears, we dance for recommended in the last Plan has been implemented, madness, we dance and now dictates the day-to-day work of the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC). The Cultural Plan is a for fears, we dance guiding document of BIAC. It informs our Board’s Annual Strategic Plan and shapes staff’s work plan. By for hopes, we dance all accounts, BIAC, now in its 30th year of operations, is for screams, we are doing an exemplary job in delivering an array of cultural services and support to the community in a highly the dancers, efficient and fiscally responsible manner. we create the This Culture Plan is the start of an ongoing conversation on what we can all do to enrich our culture lives and dreams.” the ways we express our humanity, our individual and collective capacities, our social and economic well-being, our connection to each other and to this place, and our ~Albert Einstein awareness of everything this wonderful island and its incredibly talented and creative citizens have to offer.

It is an invitation to the entire community to join us in exploring how we can pursue the recommendations together. We are a participative culture, a “maker” culture. Let’s show the world what Bowen Islanders can do.

DRAFT

Page 12 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Culture is who we are.” - Judi Gedye

A. INTRODUCTION

History, Background and Legal Context

This Plan updates the 2004 Cultural Master Plan [see Appendix VIII], adopted as a scheduled amendment to the Official Community Plan (OCP) of Bowen Island in 2005 as Municipal Bylaw 129- 2004. It was later removed from the OCP and presented as a separate Bylaw 297-2011 with the entire Plan incorporated as an Attachment.

At that time, Council reiterated the role of the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC) in the development, amendment, and oversight of implementation of the Plan by stating:

“The Cultural Master Plan shall be a guide for Bowen Island’s arts and cultural development. Council recognizes the Bowen Island Arts Council as the leading advisory organization to Municipal Council for arts and culture development and delegates to the Bowen Island Arts Council responsibility to direct the implementation, in consultation with Bowen Island Municipal Council, of the Cultural Master Plan.”

In the fall of 2014, upon being addressed by representatives of BIAC on the need for a decennial update of the Plan, and upon review of its Terms of Reference [see Appendix VIII], Bowen Island Municipal Council authorized the Bowen Island Arts Council to proceed with the review and update of the Cultural Master Plan. This document is the result of that process.

Although this document will officially remain Bowen Island’s “Cultural Master Plan”, the Steering Committee agreed to conform the Plan’s title with that used by most Canadian municipalities, namely “Cultural Plan”. In this document, “Cultural Master Plan”, “Cultural Plan” and “the Plan” are used interchangeably.

This Plan is informed by, complements, and will evolve with the municipality’s Recreation Master Plan, Parks and Trails Master Plan, andDRAFT integrated Transportation Master Plan.

Throughout this Plan, we have quoted members of our community, with their permission. They are our “experts.” Their insights and ideas, and the explorations we undertook with them during the interview process, led to the recommendations in this Plan.”

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 13 The Cultural Plan Steering Committee Membership resulted from an open invitation to residents, and the recommendation of BIAC that the Steering Committee include representation from the following groups:

• Local businesses • Patrons of the arts

• Culinary arts • Municipal government

• Literary arts • Performance arts

• Recreation groups • Natural/land arts

• Citizens at large • Arts education

• Craftspeople/artisans • Heritage groups

• Musicians • Visual & graphic arts

• Wellness arts • Conservation groups

Steering Committee & Sub-Committee Members

• Dave Pollard (Chair) • Nerys Poole

• Kathleen Ainscough • Mariana Holbrook

• Peter Williamson • Tina Overbury

• Chris Corrigan • Judi Gedye

• Jacqueline Massey • Denise Richard

• Carol Cram • Neil Hammond

• Kestra Dron • Christine Walker (BI Municipality Rep)

Gary Ander was our Council liaison. DRAFT Most of the Committee’s work was done between June 2015 and November, 2016 by subcommittees that focused on: research; outreach; sense-making; communications; public consultation; and report writing and editing. Their tasks and the work process used were described in the Executive Summary.

Note re abbreviations and documents cited in this Plan: “BIM” or “the Municipality” refers to our municipal government, Bowen Island Municipality, and its elected Council. “BIAC” or “the Arts Council” refers to the Bowen Island Arts Council. Other acronyms and abbreviations are listed in the Appendix. Information on all documents cited in this Plan (including links where available) are also listed in the Appendix.

Page 14 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Some of us are just driven to make things.”

- Connie Wright

What Are “The Arts” and What Is Culture?

We reviewed many definitions of culture in the Cultural Plans developed by other Canadian communities, and decided upon the following definition:

“Our culture is the collective identity, beliefs, behaviours, activities and aspirations of Bowen Islanders.”

In a broad sense, activities such as get-togethers at a restaurant, potlucks, community garden maintenance, yoga, poetry slams, and team recreational activities are all elements of our culture. Culture is who we are and what we do.

The arts are the means by which our culture, and especially our aspirations and beliefs, are expressed. In that sense, we are all artists.

Cultural activities — “the arts” — are the way we “tell our stories”, both personally and collectively as a community, to each other and to the world. As Denise Richard told us, being an artist is as much about our way of being as our way ofDRAFT doing. David Adams said, “Producing art is a very civilizing experience; it requires you to be more attentive to where you’re at, your physical and cultural environment.” Indeed, many Bowen artists told us that nature, solitude and quiet are essential to informing and nurturing their work, while others said that moving to Bowen either initiated or re-inspired their art. This place, this community, and the cultural and artistic works created here co-evolve, each contributing to who and what we are and what we are becoming, and redefining the essential nature of this amazing island.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 15 “The arts” can be classified as follows: • Visual arts (drawing, painting, photography, film, print-making etc.) • Literary arts (fiction, non- fiction, poetry, documentary etc.) • Music of all genres • Performance arts (dance, theatre, stand- up, clowning, improv etc.) • Fibre arts and crafts (sewing, knitting, basketware, leather work weaving, canvas, etc.) • Culinary arts (canning, catering, brewing, chocolate etc.) • Arts and cultural education • Arts and cultural preservation • Earth arts and crafts (pottery, jewelry, glasswork, chandlery, woodwork, beadwork, metalware etc.) • Architecture, building and land art • Design work of any kind • Wellness and healing arts (yoga, herbals, body and hair art, body care products, massage, nutrition, etc.)

Even these broad categories do not capture the full breadth of artistic expression, creativity, and mastery found on Bowen Island. BIAC has offered exhibitions on wearable art, woven art, painted furniture, masks, and found art. Bowen Island is home to at least two renowned and accomplished professional clowns. A great deal of our art is created (and often remains) inside the homes of Bowen Islanders where, as Peter Williamson noted “no one else on Bowen is aware of it. Imagine if we were!”. Some of our art is collaborative, spontaneous, and improvisational. Each of us expresses our culture in our own unique way.

Culture is broader than the arts, but our focus in this Plan has been on the above categories of cultural expression, creativity, education, and preservation. Many people believe that our natural environment, and the way we explore, interact and play in it, is an essential element of our culture, and we agree. However, activities such as hiking Mt Gardner and participating in recreational and sports activities, although important, are within the purview of other Master Plans and not specifically addressed in this Plan. “The arts encompass more than the symphony, gallery and theatre; they also includeDRAFT the video games that we play, the movies that we watch, the magazines that we read, the architecture that we inhabit, the music that we enjoy, the designs that we wear, the food that we eat — the list goes on. We experience creativity every day in numerous ways. As human beings, we are all creative by nature because all that we do is an expression of ourselves. Arts, culture and heritage are some of the most enduring representations of human expression.”

- excerpt from Why Culture Matters in Your Community, published 2017 by Arts Alliance

Page 16 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Art can enable communities to honour their past and dream their future. It changes us.” - Pauline Le Bel

Why Arts and Culture Matter

1. They Promote Health and Healing, Identity, Meaning, Self-Expression and Self-Worth

Arts and culture are essential to our health, wellness, social integrity, life and identity. Through arts and culture, we tell our stories, express ourselves beyond language, and engage the world at every level of our being. Arts and culture permeate everything we do. They give our lives meaning and purpose. Creativity intersects every aspect of our lives improving mental health and making us better citizens. The arts provide a powerful vehicle for healing, and an opportunity to remember what most of us forgot when we left childhood behind: that we are all artists. The arts also increase our sense of self-awareness, personal value, and optimism about our uncertain and possibly challenging future. David Adams told us: “Great art is spiritually transformational, even when the subject is not spiritual. Art helps you see the world differently and renews your sense of possibility.”

2. They Help Build a Vibrant Local Economy

The creative and cultural industries produce $6.7 billion or 3% of British Columbia’s GDP and employ 81,385 cultural workers, 8% of its workforce. On Bowen, close to one-sixth of our adult population is listed in our DRAFTArts and Cultural directory as receiving some income from these activities, with 10% “significantly” dependent on arts activities for their livelihoods. Bowen has been named as one of the most artistic communities in Canada, based on a Hill Strategies Report that studied how residents derive their primary income. In addition, a significant amount of our creative and cultural work occurs in the emerging “sharing economy” where it is offered voluntarily, done for home or personal use, or gifted or traded among Bowen’s residents. Every year, some of our artists reluctantly leave Bowen because they no longer wish to commute in order to supplement their income from cultural and creative activities or because they cannot afford rising housing costs.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 17 3. They Enhance Our Quality of Life and Help Us Dream What’s Possible

We are uniquely privileged to live within easy access of Vancouver while still being far enough away to avoid urban sprawl. Our creative and artistic talents and our cultural sensitivity and values can be key to preserving our sense of space, our island’s natural beauty, and our appreciation of the astonishing bounty our island offers. Peter Williamson says, “The best art surprises and delights us.” Art can also help us imagine how we can work to evolve Bowen into a truly different and aesthetically rich community, and help us imagine how we can each contribute to making this island resilient, prosperous, sustainable, and strong.

4. They Enable Continuous Learning and Capacity-Building

What keeps us young, agile and productive as we move into busy adulthood and then into our senior years is our willingness and ability to keep learning new things. By acquiring new knowledge, new insights, and new skills, we forge new networks. Arts, crafts and cultural activities present us with a multitude of challenging and enjoyable learning opportunities, many of which can add core competencies to our personal resumés and build the collective capacity, independence, and self-sufficiency of our community. The intersection of creativity and education are equally vital for innovation.

5. They Bridge the Generation Gap

Creative activities enable us to demonstrate our knowledge to and to cooperate with, play with, and stay connected with other generations. We can use arts and culture to help us build deep appreciation and cooperation between generations.

6. They Promote Connection and Social Cohesion

In many communities, most people don’t know their neighbours. Arts and cultural activities (including gardening together, having potlucks, work bees and both amateur and professional get-togethers) can forge bonds between members of the community, show us their (and our own) unknown and astonishing knowledge and capacities, and help overcome the divisiveness that can arise in small communities. In addition, arts and culture can produce some remarkable collective works. Carlos Vela-Martinez is one of many Bowen artists who credit the island with inspiring their careers, and notes: “Knowing your fellow performers deepens the experience and connection of your work.” DRAFT

Page 18 Bowen Island Cultural Plan 7. They Build Community

The noted American cultural writer Joe Bageant wrote that “Community is born of necessity”. The fact that we are “stuck” together on a small island, often subject to the vagaries of ferry schedules, power outages, downed trees, and limited local access to goods and health services, means that of necessity we have to be constantly building community, helping each other out, and learning who to ask for help. Artistic and cultural activities—singing together, marching in the Bowfest parade, making costumes and organizing Halloween activities together for our children—are a principal way in which we weave our social fabric to build a strong community. Our conversations address social fragmentation, alienation, and the other challenges we face in our modern world. Arts and culture bring us together and help us to transcend politics and build bridges, and to increase our tolerance and understanding of each other. As key meeting places in our community, arts and cultural facilities enable such connections. The cultural sector fosters volunteerism, which is essential to our wellbeing and an important part of civil society.

8. They Enable Us to Discover the Power of Noticing and the Virtue of Slowness

Creativity is about making things that we imagine, real. A key to cultivating imagination is to slow down and pay attention, notice what is going on, what is already real, and appreciate the value of preserving and learning from our past. Printmaker Emily van Lidth de Jeude says “Any impression made by anything is a mystery or clue”. We live on “Bowen Time” (clocks with no hands) and we have made a virtue of slowness, of taking the time to notice, to do things right, and to learn how past masters did things. These are the skills and attributes of an artist, and they now imbue the very character of our island.

DRAFT

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 19 B. OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

These principles emerged from the work done by the Cultural Plan Steering Committee, and served to guide us in the work of the Committee and its Subcommittees and in the assembly of this document. They are truths and insights about why we care about the arts and culture, and why they’re important:

1. Creativity is the hallmark of arts and culture, and it is through arts and culture that we experience the world and engage others in conversations to address social fragmentation, alienation and the other challenges we face in our modern world.

2. We are all artistic, creative people; the challenge is to get those who don’t see themselves as such to discover and recognize it.

3. Arts and culture permeate everything we do.

4. Arts and culture are essential to our health, wellness, social cohesion, life and identity; they are how we express ourselves beyond language and engage the world at every level of our being.

5. The best way to understand the needs of, and to support, arts and culture is to ask our people important questions, and record and listen carefully to their stories.

6. The best way to let people discover their artistry is to enable them to practice and demonstrate it.

7. Arts and culture bring us together; they embrace and transcend politics.

8. Arts and culture are essential to the emerging Sharing Economy, which enables us to partly overcome the growing inequality of wealth and income, and which is more resilient in the face of severe economic downturns.

9. A Cultural Plan should invite and enable a conversation on what we can all do to enrich our culture, our creative activities and opportunities, our capacities, our social and economic well-being, our connection to each other and to this place, and our awareness of all this island and its citizens have to offer. DRAFT

Page 20 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Bowen has hardly changed during my time here. Thank God. We’re authentic, random, non-gentrified, perfect. We’ve found our groove. Never under- estimate the value of authenticity. We have to stop thinking in terms of ‘That’s pretty good for Bowen Island’.” - Ron Woodall

C. WHAT IS BOWEN’S CULTURE?

This section of the Culture Plan was written in one of Bowen Island’s renowned cafés—a meeting place where Bowen’s culture is almost flagrantly on display. Bleary-eyed commuters stagger in well before dawn for enough caffeine to get them onto the ferry. Telecommuters work at their laptops, interrupted constantly by friends who pull up chairs and share the latest local news. Several breakfast business meetings are taking place. The walls are covered with local art. Tradespeople get the day’s instructions by cellphone. A young couple studies a map of Bowen’s hiking trails. A small crowd of dogs waits anxiously by the door for their people, checkingDRAFT out the other dogs much as the people check each other out. Most of the people filing in wave and chat with others they know, while the few people visiting for the first time look somewhat bewildered, as if this place has a language they don’t know. Suddenly, a flash mob choir bursts into song, and then hurries off to brief applause. Then someone announces “The ferry is here…” and a mass exodus ensues. The café empties, but then as the ferry deposits its load of visitors and returning residents, it quickly fills up again.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 21 What exactly is Bowen’s culture? A fascinating picture emerged from the interviews and surveys we conducted to prepare this Plan. Let’s start with some remarkable demographics from the recent North Shore Community Wellness Survey:

Country of Birth of Residents, 2011:

Age Distribution of Residents, 2011 (Statistics Canada data):

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Page 22 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Statistics Comparison Bowen Island North Shore

English as first language 99% 89%

Binge drinks once a week or so 19% 11%

Children under 5 are cared for by family in home 81% 51%

Feel safe walking in neighbourhood at night 98% 93%

Feel strong or very strong sense of community 82% 68%

Strongly agree people here help their neighbours 56% 26%

Life is “extremely or quite stressful”* 31% 27%

*[Causes of stress cited, in order: work (72%), financial (60%), children (33%), health (25%), home situation (16%), employment status (12%), personal safety (11%), elder care (10%)]

If Canada is a nation of immigrants, Bowen Island is an island of “domestic immigrants”: Although not many Bowen Islanders were born here, most of us moved here from elsewhere in Canada or the US. Most of us came, it seems, seeking the natural beauty, peace, and community we couldn’t find in our previous homes on “the continent”.

Few Islanders will be surprised at the age demographic chart. We know that young Islanders tend to leave the island once out of high school, and that Bowen is popular among young families and older people. However, the shortage of age 20-39 residents certainly affects the vitality and economy of our island.

Our lack of ethnic and language diversity is probably obvious to any first-time visitors to the island. This lack of diversity is reflected in a lack of variety in some of the arts. Where Vancouver is increasingly polyglot, with a rich variety of cultures, Bowen remains overwhelmingly white and culturally homogeneous. Students of Vancouver’s culture have commented that, rather than a homogenizing “melting pot”, Vancouver has multiple culturesDRAFT living in and traversing the same communities but spending their time in different places, maintaining very distinct, even isolated, cultures. It’s almost as if Vancouver’s Anglophone and international communities each lived in different dimensions in the same physical space, with relatively little social contact between them.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 23 If there is a similar “same community, different lives” dynamic on Bowen, it is not along ethnic lines, but more along the lines of lifestyle and world view, as illustrated by Ron’s cartoon above. More important than these differences, however, are the many aspects of our culture that we all share. Here are some of these shared cultural characteristics: • Many Islanders we spoke with said that they came to Bowen in search of sanctuary, respite, healing, “finding themselves”, orpeace and quiet. Whether it’s an escape from anxieties or stresses that plagued them on “the continent” or wanting a safe, peaceful place to raise their children, this common objective for coming and living here seems to be something most Islanders share. Some of us decided to come to Bowen as soon as we saw it, instinctively knowing that we belonged here even before we had any idea what we would do here or how we would make a living. Bastien Desfriches Doria observed, “Bowen is a safe haven and that makes it comfortable to be an artist here.” • Perhaps paradoxically, many Islanders we surveyed said that what they value most on Bowen is the sense of community. Despite the fact that the population of Bowen is so spread out, and many Islanders have busy work lives, it seems most Islanders have made a point of getting to know their neighbours and getting involved in local activities (often, via the school and recreational activities of their children). We may use the online social media, such as Facebook to interact and assist one another in a variety of ways. Audrey Grescoe told us “It’s great to be recognized by so many people here”, and noted that it fundamentally changes you when you’re really part of a community, instead of living anonymously in a big city. • Carlos Vela-Martinez observed that the places where people meet (on Bowen these are often restaurants) largely inform and influence their culture. Tina Overbury tells the“only on Bowen” story of hurling a bag from the dock onto the deck of a departing ferry to the astonishment of passengers, asking that it be delivered to her child on board — of course, it was. She says: “I could never leave Bowen — this is what ‘home’ is supposed to feel like. Bowen is a place that embodies art in relationship to other people.” Judi Gedye told us “Bowen is like a healthy coral reef that attracts colourful fish of all types. We aren’t all swimming in the same direction, but we are part of the ecosystem. We all participate in some ways in creating culture.” And Ron Woodall said “We’re like a dysfunctional family: We fight, but we have each other’s back.” • Several of the Islanders we interviewed said that life on Bowen is, or continues to be, something of an ongoing struggle. Whether that’s due to the challenges of trying to make enough of a living here to live comfortably, or the challenges of a daily commute and finding enough hours in the day for family and other obligations, life for many Bowen Islanders doesn’t seem easy or idyllic. Despite this, most Islanders in our interviews and survey reported being very happy here, and few said they wanted to move away, although some feared they may be forcedDRAFT to. • Many Islanders in our interviews and survey expressed a strong love of the beauty of the outdoors and outdoor activities. In Nanaimo’s Culture Plan, this preference was so prevalent that their Plan said simply “Our Culture is Outdoors”. This is clearly true on Bowen as well. Vibrant, usable parks, beautiful forest trails, swimming and playing on our many beaches, and support for outdoor facilities, events and art, seem important to many of us. The North Shore wellness survey showed that Bowen Islanders seem more interested in their health and fitness than some other communities. But something is changing, according to some. Emily van Lidth de Jeude, who grew up on Bowen, observes “Bowen has now lost its comfort in nature, its autonomy and self-sufficiency that was key to its character; people now wait for others to give them what they need (e.g. for the power to come back on).”

Page 24 Bowen Island Cultural Plan • J Peachy notes the fact that we’re a small island, only reachable by ferry, defines our culture. We are isolated, physically, socially and culturally, from the rest of Canada and the world. Some of us like it that way, a quality that the new Bowen Island branding initiative is wryly playing up. Holly Graff notes that no one “stumbles” onto Bowen Island, since we’re not “on the way” to anywhere else; we’re a clear destination, the end of the line. She says in that respect we are an intentional community, with intentional (not accidental) visitors. She questions, “Do we understand and appreciate our intention?” Some Islanders would dispute this sense of isolation, however. David Smith believes Bowen Islanders are particularly well connected with our peers globally. • A number of interviewees commented that our culture is less consumerist and more participatory than in most other communities. As Chris Corrigan puts it: “This can continue to be a place where we make stuff together. When you go to a show here, you interact with the performers and put your own chair away”. • Several interviewees told us that Bowen’s culture is more casual, less deliberate than that of other communities. Brian Hoover said: “Even famous artists here are just friends we meet in the grocery store,” and Keona Hammond commented that “Artists are more laid back here because they don’t necessarily expect to make a living from their art.” Gail Lotenberg noted that renowned musicians on Bowen often get together on short notice just to play. • A number of interviewees also described our culture as quirky. Diana Izdebski was delighted that her salmon design won the Bowen crosswalk contest, and Sarah Haxby has said if we want to make a name for ourselves we should “build a giant slug sculpture in the Cove”. Kat Hayduk says we’re less quirky than we used to be, though. “Driving a Lexus no longer raises eyebrows.” Driving a “Bowen beater” will however. • Several interviewees also noted that on Bowen we’re conservative when it comes to change. It takes time for things to be accepted here. If your idea or art installation is different and provocative, it may take some time before residents warm to it. And if you’re offering some new cultural activity here, you have to give it time to find its niche, promoting it and reminding people. Shasta Martinuk’s Island Village Song-Circle, for example, took several years before it thrived, as potential members made room for it as their regular Monday evening activity. • But perhaps paradoxically our culture seems also essentially activist. Voter turnout on Bowen is usually high (in the 2011 municipal elections it was the highest in BC), and interest and debate on political and social issues is common here. Bowen Islanders uniquely supported the surtax for improved transit service when the rest of greater Vancouver turned it down. We have a progressive bent, tempered by skepticism of regulation and government and somewhat libertarian values. We seem to be more informed about and care more than other communities about issues beyond our immediate homes and families. Peter Williamson says: “This affects much of the creative work we do and the sensibilities we bring to our work. It’s part of our culture to live sustainably, and that brings a kind of modesty and a senseDRAFT of appreciation to the way in which we express ourselves, including how we express ourselves in the arts.”

Chris Corrigan cautions that it is important that we distinguish between our citizens’ espoused values (what they think and say they want) and their enacted values (what they actually show they want through their actions). Our survey revealed that many of us say we would like to participate more in the arts, but just don’t have the time, money, or energy to do so.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 25 As a result, some events are cancelled because, despite initial stated enthusiasm, advance ticket sales or RSVPs aren’t enough to justify or pay for the event. Some people might describe this as “flakiness”. However, it may be that our over-committed, busy people want to be kind and encouraging to artist friends, but just have other more urgent priorities.

It’s important that we recognize our culture for what it is, and, in formulating policies and plans, not try to be what we are not. In deciding which cultural and artistic activities are best to support, fund and incubate, we need to be aware of our essential culture and focus on initiatives that are consistent with our culture rather than counter-cultural.

Some of the highlighted keywords of this analysis of our culture are captured in the graphic below. This “portrait” of Bowen’s culture has informed the analysis of where we are now and the goals, strategies and recommendations in this Plan.

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Page 26 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Get something done. We know what we need. Just begin! An artist has to be willing to say ‘No problem — we can do that!’” - Simon Winadzi James

D. GOALS, STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS

When we developed this Plan, we wanted to do more than propose additional study and planning activities. We also wanted to ensure our recommendations are “SMART”.

• Specific • Achievable • Time-bound • Measurable • Realistic

Some of our recommendations may be controversial; some may prove overly ambitious, and some may need to be tweaked once we get into the work of bringing them to fruition. And we will “follow the energy” of our community: which recommendations are considered most urgent, which have project “champions”, accessible funding and the support of partner groups able to help in their implementation.

The approach of asking open-ended questions and letting people tell their stories has provided a tremendously valuable source of ideas, insights, knowledge, and perspectives. Some of the challenges we’re facing will require us to continue this kind of deliberative, consultative, collaborative work because the answers to some of these challenges are not easy. As a result, a number of the recommendations that follow include the proposal to “convene a salon”. We deliberately use the term “salon” because of its historical use by artists to discuss not whether, but how to best implement recommendations. These salons won’t hire consultantsDRAFT to conduct focus groups to write reports. We know by now what we need. Rather, these salons will engage the artists and residents of this community to work together to implement the recommendations, so that instead of “we voted for that” (or didn’t) we can say, as a community, “We did that!”

We also realize the importance of partnering and collaborating with the many other groups working to make Bowen Island a better place to live, and that we have a far greater chance of succeeding if we work together rather than pursuing goals independently. Beneath each of the recommendations is a list of the partners we have consulted with and will be working with to implement it.

On to the recommendations!

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 27 “The arts are essential to our economy and our well-being. A place for public assembly and performance is critical.” - Paul Hooson

1. Create Cultural Spaces

We begin by thanking all the Bowen Islanders who have spent countless hours over a quarter century trying to come up with an acceptable proposal and site to address the need for a mixed-use space including dedicated cultural and performing arts spaces. A large part of the 2004 Plan was devoted to recommendations related to building a multi-purpose performance space. A decade later, we are still struggling to implement those recommendations.

Many communities in Canada have identified lack of performance space as an urgent problem, and proposed and implemented innovative solutions such as air-supported inflatable domes, fabric-membrane structures, “earthship” and other natural-building structures. “Place Making” has emerged to explore innovative ways of meeting requirements for cultural spaces and other Commons spaces. One popular approach is to “do it for ourselves” in which community members are directly involved in both the design and construction of these spaces. DRAFT Over the past decade, a consensus on an acceptable “minimum specifications” has emerged. This conceptual design, in various iterations, has been endorsed by all studies and reports relating to a multi- purpose Bowen Island community gathering place, suitable for assembly, presentation and performance. It is a tried and true design, and is the model for many lower mainland flexible facilities that are owned or managed by Municipalities.

Minimum Specifications • The Hall is flat-floored, throughout, and is capable of effectively programming community assembly, the performing arts, soft recreation, seniors and afterschool activities, dances, silent auctions, craft fairs, memorials, etc.

Page 28 Bowen Island Cultural Plan • Hall Capacity: In Performance mode: retractable seating 155 Portable seating (optional); retractable seating can be retrofitted, as funds allow, as long as wall and floor reinforcement is done during initial construction. In Banquet/Assembly mode: 225 • Hall is a single, T-shaped room (2416 SF) • Total area, with critical support rooms (3192 SF)

• Dimensions: Stage area: 40’ x 24’ (960 SF) Audience area: 52’x 28’ (1456 SF) Height: 18’ to lighting grid Support Rooms: 2 Storage Rooms, 6’x 12’ x 18’ high (144 SF). Possibility to double this with minimal extra cost, by including lofts for equipment. 2 Dressing Rooms: 20’ x 8’ x 10’ high (320 SF) 1 Crossover Hallway Backstage: 40’x5’x10’ high (200 SF) 1 Tech Booth: 14’ x 8’x10’ high (112 SF) • This design does NOT include lobby, public washrooms, offices, First Aid room, or kitchen, as these will be determined by decisions on whether the facility is part of a larger Community Centre, or is stand-alone. To add these elements for a stand-alone facility would increase the total area to 6000 SF. • Blackout capable • Wheelchair accessible

Additional desirable facilities/spaces • arts workshop, space for meetings/salons, indoor and outdoor semi-permanent display/exhibition space • “maker space” where creative tools are provided to enable exploration of new possibilities and prototype design • drop-in space for artist gatherings • adjacent or associated community-owned recording studio and video facility • capacity to be used to screen films • adjacent permanent outdoor performance space • space to billet visiting artistsDRAFT and crew on performance days

Recommendation 1.1: Establish and Operate a Dedicated Cultural Space in Snug Cove (Cove Commons Project) (BIAC, Bowen Island Public Library, BIM, local artists and artist groups)

• Manage the move of our Gallery and BIAC offices to the higher-visibility Cove Commons, adjacent to the Bowen Island Public Library.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 29 • Secure the financing, establish design, construct and move into the new space ensuring an on-budget transition.

• Secure a lease with BIM that will allow for the management of the space in a way that is efficient and financially sustainable.

Recommendation 1.2: Build a Multi-Purpose Community Hall and Performing Arts Space (BIAC, BIM/Bowen Island Community Recreation Department, local artists and artist groups)

• Work with the Municipality through the current process in development of the community lands, to collaborate towards the planning and construction of a community hall and performing arts space that could accommodate the minimum cultural space requirements as listed above.

• Should that not be successful, pursue alternative solutions to meet performance arts space needs by 2025, including obtaining a lease on appropriate municipally-owned land.

Recommendation 1.3: Conduct a Facilities Inventory (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, local artists and artist groups)

• Create an inventory of island facilities that are or could be used for arts and cultural activities either exclusively or on a shared basis, including vacant spaces.

• Develop a listing and map of available facilities that shows the attributes of each space, calendar of availability, and booking contact information.

Recommendation 1.4: Develop Place-Making Competency (BIAC, local artists and artist groups)

• Review success stories of the development of public amenities including cultural spaces and acquire knowledge about innovative methods of Place Making.

• Make this information available to inform the development of both temporary and permanent community-built spaces. DRAFT

Recommendation 1.5: Identify Needs and Develop Strategies for Additional Arts and Culture Spaces (BIAC, local artists and artist groups)

• Convene a salon to identify additional arts and culture space needs on Bowen Island, and strategies for meeting these needs, drawing upon the “Additional Desirable Spaces/Facilities” list above.

Page 30 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “A Service Agreement with the Municipality would ensure stable, reliable funding for the arts and culture and enable long- term planning.” - Nerys Poole

2. Reliably Fund the Arts and Culture on Bowen Island

In 2017, BIAC’s annual operating budget totals approximately $218,000, with revenues consisting of approximately $52,000 as a grant for operating and program costs from the Municipality, $66,000 in other grants, $52,000 from sales and other earned revenue sources, and $48,000 from donations, memberships, and other sources.

Beginning in 1998, BIAC received core funding from the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver) as part of the recreational funding provided to Bowen Island Parks and Recreation Commission. The organization also received a block-booking fee for use of recreational space at the Gallery @ Artisan Square. WhenDRAFT Bowen became a municipality in 1999, BIM also recognized arts as a component of recreation. It appreciated the value of supporting BIAC to deliver cultural services and continued to grant what was then considered core funding to the nonprofit, plus the block-booking fee (a combined amount of $42,000). Since that time, BIAC has annually applied to the Municipality for this funding and it has consistently been granted, with annual increases of approximately 2%.

The funding from the Municipality is aimed at helping offsetting operational expenses of the nonprofit, including administration and salaries. The monies received are used to leverage other funding opportunities, which help us deliver programs and services that the community demands. The grant is essential to the operation of the organization.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 31 Unlike many nonprofits, BIAC self-generates approximately 50% of its revenue. Additionally, almost 100% of what it raises directly benefits the local economy – as the money is used to hire local artists, facilitators and staff, and to purchase local goods and services. The economic impact – the return on every dollar spent – of support of the arts, culture, and cultural tourism has been well documented. It is estimated that for every $1 spent on the arts, there is a return of $12. With an operational budget of approximately $220,000/year, that translates to BIAC creating $2.6 M of economic prosperity to the island each year.

Without core funding from BIM, this would not be possible.

BIAC delivers an array of cultural services and programs to the community, a role that is often assumed by local government. BIM recognizes that BIAC has been able to perform this role more efficiently and inexpensively than it could.

BIAC’s challenge is that under the current process, support from the local government is uncertain. Lack of stable, core funding creates a less than ideal environment in which to make long-term planning decisions.

Guaranteed annual financial support would not reduce the requirement for BIAC to continue to grow its other sources of revenue as the population, arts and cultural offerings and needs grow each year. These other revenue sources, and the costs they finance, are more “variable” costs, and for the past decade BIAC has successfully raised the funds it has needed for these purposes. BIAC requires guaranteed “core” funding for its essential, recurring operational, staffing, and administrative costs.

Municipal council has recognized this difficulty and has passed a resolution requesting staff to explore with BIAC a new model for funding. In early 2017, the Municipality established a Core Program Funding Policy.

Recommendation 2.1: Apply for Multi-Year Core Funding from BIM (BIAC, BIM)

• Submit an application to BIM to build a case for multi-year core funding, based on the nature of services and programs delivered by the nonprofit organization. The amount of this allocation should reflect increases in the cost of living, and in light of the special importance of the arts and culture on Bowen Island, should maintain or increase the allocation as a percentage of the total Municipal budget and that of comparable departments. DRAFT

Page 32 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Bowen could be renowned for Land Art: The earth and environment as your medium and message. It ties into who we already are culturally.” - David Adams

3. Support Public Art and “Land Art”

Most people in our community and the majority of visitors consider outdoors activities to be essential if not primary expressions of our culture. For that reason, it is both a necessity and an opportunity to make the arts and culture more accessible and more visible by increasing our focus on cultural and artists’ works in public spaces, in particular outdoor public spaces.

Public art animates the built and natural environment with meaning and contributes to a vibrant community in which to live and visit. The enormous popularity of the recently completed Gateway Garden and crosswalk art project demonstrate this. The intent of a Public Art Program is to spark community participation in the building of our public spaces; offer public access to ideas generated by contemporary art; celebrate community heritage, identity, achievements, and aspirations; increase the accessibility of artistic and cultural works by those unlikely to visit indoor galleries and exhibits; and encourage islanders to take pride in community cultural expression.

Public art is not limited to the visual arts. A former Gallery curator, Janet Esseiva, notes that public art installations can include soundscapes, interactive art, landscape art, and written words. Arts and music festivals can also be considered an important form of public art. All of these genres are known to attract cultural tourism, an important economic activity on Bowen. In addition, we have seen theDRAFT degree to which the love of our island’s abundant natural beauty and the sense of identity and culture of Bowen Islanders are linked, and this abundance and connection provide both the space and opportunity for Bowen Island to become renowned as a centre for Land Art. Land Art is defined as art that is created in nature, using natural materials such as soil, rock, organic materials, and water, with introduced materials such as concrete, metal, asphalt, or mineral pigments. Sculptures are not placed in the landscape, rather, the landscape is the means of their creation. We believe Bowen Island is ideally suited to the development of Land Art. The current proliferation of rock balancing, tree sculptures, and stone mosaics on the island is evidence of an appetite for Land Art that could potentially become a major tourist draw.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 33 Recommendation 3.1: Develop a Public Art Program, Policy, Inventory and Guide (BIAC, BIM, Bowen Island Community Recreation, Bowen Island Parks and Environment, heritage groups, youth groups, local artists and artist groups)

• Encourage and assist the Municipality to adopt a Public Art Program, including a Public Art Policy, and to establish a Public Art Committee to implement and enforce the Policy. BIAC will lead the process of developing the Policy for BIM that includes Terms of Reference for a Public Art Committee; work with the Municipality to establish and enact the Policy.

• Develop a Guide for Public Artists that covers considerations such as environmental impact, zoning, aesthetics, safety, durability, and maintenance; create an Inventory of current public art on Bowen; and develop and administer the Public Art Program.

The Public Art Policy should address how we will deal with public controversies over the quality, beauty, siting, or appropriateness of specific public artworks and consider the ongoing maintenance of public artworks; how public art will be funded; and special considerations for temporary “pop-up” public art installations. With appropriate guidance and funding, we can make our entire island into a gallery and arts and culture workshop.

Recommendation 3.2: Initiate a Community Land Art Project (BIAC, BIM, Bowen Island Community Recreation, Bowen Island Parks and Environment, local artists and artist groups)

• Convene a salon to explore the development of Community Land Art Project, including an invitation and challenge to island artists

• Develop a set of criteria for Land Artists to use as a guide.

• Coordinate an introductory workshop.

• Explore the possible inauguration of an annual Land Art Competition and Walking Tour. Recommendation 3.3: Enhance theDRAFT Bowen Island Heritage Walk (BIAC, BIM, Bowen Island Community Recreation, Tourism Bowen Island, Bowen Heritage, Bowen Island Parks and Environment, Bowen Island Heritage Commission Bowen Island Museum and Archives, Metro Vancouver and local schools)

• Convene a salon with appropriate groups to explore the enhancement of the Cove Heritage Walk to be a cross-island walk that would connect to existing island trails, take participants past significant heritage sites, feature then-and-now photographs of these sites and artworks, and encourage creation and display of artworks related to heritage by local artists, and notably by school children.

• Consider the advantages of using smartphone apps and other new technologies to create “virtual walks”. These are more easily and inexpensively updated than printed maps and plaques, and might include other enhancements such as a driving tour route for inaccessible locations and for those with mobility challenges.

Page 34 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “We need a guide that tells Bowen Islanders ‘How to Stay Here’, despite the costs and the issues, how to do what you have to until you can do what you want to.” - Sarah Haxby

4. Help Artists Make a Better Living

Since the last Cultural Plan was written in 2004, some excellent artists have left the island. In some cases, it may have been because they were unable to make a sufficient living to afford to reside here, or because the commute to the mainland proved too exhausting. Drawn by Bowen’s beauty and the qualities of Bowen’s culture described earlier, many of these artists may have wanted to stay but felt they had no choice but to leave. Ron Woodall has said “If you can make it on Bowen, you can make it anywhere.” This “creative drain” is an impediment to our community.

Historically, many artists have been challenged to make an adequate income through their work. Victoria’s cultural plan reports that the median income of artists from cultural activities is only $5,000. The Hamilton cultural plan states that “Artists in Hamilton are considered extremely successful if they earn $12,000 a year, and that includes supplemental and part-time jobs”. A study by Hill & Associates found that across BC, the median income of those self-describing as artists was $19,000, below the livable wage for most communities.

The cost of housing, and living, is influenced largely by factors out of our control. Income and wealth inequality in Canada is increasing, further reducing the discretionary income of most Canadians and hence their ability to afford works of art and tickets to artistic and cultural events. Bowen artists and artisans are competing for fewer buyers each year. In addition, some film tax credits previously available to film-makers producing on Bowen have been reduced. And there is a growing divide between Bowen artists who need and expect to be paid fairly for their work, and those who do not because they have other sources of income. As a result, some people on Bowen believe there is an “ethos of not paying artists”. This isn’t just a Bowen phenomenon. The value of artistic and cultural work is under- appreciated and undervalued in the modernDRAFT throwaway economy of mass-production and off-shoring to reduce costs. As Brian Hoover says, this economy “requires us to work too hard for too little, exhausting and isolating us.”

While much of what drives this economy is beyond local control, we can take some steps to encourage more artistic and cultural production on Bowen, and to help those in the creative and cultural industries make ends meet. We can continue to work with retailers, B&Bs, developers and builders, promoters and service groups such as Tourism Bowen Island to place art and promotional materials on commercial premises and websites. In the case of developers and builders, we can encourage the employment of local artists and artisans in the design and construction of local structures, and push for the inclusion of public art elements in all new public structures.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 35 BIAC will also continue, through its relationships with stakeholders, organizations and developers and through its involvement with the Economic Development Committee, to encourage and explore options to create affordable living and working spaces for artists and artisans on Bowen.

Recommendation 4.1: Encourage Art Placement and Involvement of Artists in the Commercial Sector (BIAC, BIM, Tourism Bowen Island, Rotary Club, local retailers, B&Bs, other private sector establishments, local artists and arts groups)

• Develop materials and programs that encourage the placement of art and promotional materials on the premises and websites of private sector businesses, especially those with a storefront.

• Advocate for involvement of artists in the design and development of private spaces.

• Consider whether there are additional public and private spaces for pop-up and ongoing art exhibits.

Recommendation 4.2: Maintain Ongoing Liaison with the Economic Development Committee & Support its Arts Initiatives (BIAC, BIM, Economic Development Committee, Tourism Bowen Island, local artists and arts groups)

• Continue membership in and liaison with the Municipality’s Economic Development Committee (Economic Development Committee) in its programs to build community through a vibrant economy.

• Assist, when resources allow, with Economic Development Committee initiatives and concepts such as “Venue as a Village” and other low environmental impact projects that focus on enhancing opportunities for cultural enterprise.

Recommendation 4.3: Organize Opportunities for Art Sales (BIAC, BIM, Economic Development Committee, Tourism Bowen Island, local artists and arts groups)

• Develop and promote existing and additional craft and artisan markets, studio tours and other opportunities for artist wares to be accessed and sold. • Develop and promote an online commercialDRAFT art gallery. • Explore feasibility of developing a rental art program.

Recommendation 4.4: Develop A Guide to Starting & Marketing a Cultural Enter- prise on Bowen (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, BIM, local artists and arts groups)

• Convene a salon to hear stories of local artists’ successful career launches (and re-launches), start- ups, market research and marketing strategies (including online promotion), strategies for finding sponsorship and financing, finding strategic partnerships, venue selection, strategies for dealing with artists’ unique legal, logistic and regulatory issues, and other “best practices”.

• Compile this information and publish a Bowen Islander’s Guide to Starting and Marketing a Cultural Enterprise on Bowen. Page 36 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “We should find a way to structure opportunities for peer-to-peer meetings and collaborations on artistic and cultural topics.” - Peter Williamson

5. Enable Bowen Artists to Meet and Collaborate

In our interviews, several amateur artists said they were seeking informal ‘meetups’ with others on Bowen who shared their specific interest, so that they could get together and learn from each other in a relaxed way. Some said they perceive BIAC as the representative of professional artists and didn’t expect it to provide this capability to them, but were at a loss how exactly to self-organize.

The hugely-popular Eat Drink Paint series tapped into this demand to some extent because the refreshments and the social exchange that accompanied the painting reduced the intimidation factor and made the series more like a get-together with friends than a ‘training’ session. BIAC is keen to find ways to engage the public in the arts, not only as learners and audience members, but as participants in peer-to-peer activities.

Recommendation 5.1: Enhance BIAC Website to Enable Self-Organized Amateur Arts Initiatives (BIAC, local amateur artists)

• Create a ‘meetup’-style feature on its website or on the BowenCulture.ca website that would enable amateur artists of all kinds to (a) post an interest in meeting with other Bowen Islanders who share a specific artistic or cultural passion, (b) invite and enable others to respond, including providing the capability to identify a place and time for them to meet, create a mailing list, and, if desired, invite professionals and/or educators to participate, and (c) carry on interactive online discussions on their subject of shared passion, including the capability to post shared media files. The objective would be to allow these groups toDRAFT self-organize and enable BIAC to facilitate them, rather than organizing things for them.

This would entail minimal use of BIAC resources to achieve. It would increase the use of BIAC’s websites by residents of Bowen, and would allow BIAC to identify opportunities for additional Eat Drink Paint- type activities that it might organize, and to promote these opportunities more effectively. It would make the claim that ‘we are all artists’ ring truer, make the exploration and practice of non-professional arts more ‘playful’, and break down some of the hesitancy and shyness some Islanders said they felt when exploring a new area of art or craft.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 37 The forums that might arise from this capacity could vary significantly depending on the art form. Musicians might use it to recreate Bowen’s successful and popular ‘kitchen junkets’. Photographers might use it to organize field trips and dinners to compare equipment. Singing groups might use it to organize joint events. Writers might use it as a ‘buddy system’ to encourage them to practice daily writing skills. Dancers and mediators might use it to identify kindred spirits and practice together. People wanting to learn about mosaics, say, or jewelry making, could use it to identify existing practitioners in these arts and self-organize to study together or to bring over more skilled practitioners.

The connections these gatherings establish could be instrumental in launching new careers and nurturing new professionals on our island, and helping us all discover ways to make a better living here. It could likewise birth some joyful amateur collaborations we could collectively celebrate, and help us answer the all- important and never-ending question “Who do we know on Bowen who knows how to …?”

What professional artists told us they are looking for is something structured a little differently from the informal and open ‘meetup’ capacity that most amateur artists seemed to prefer. What professional artists are looking for is, in Ron Woodall’s words “an opportunity to get together and drink wine” and talk casually with similarly-accomplished peers about the challenges they share and the possibilities for professional collaborations.

This model is about enabling artists to tell their stories, to build networks with other professional artists both local and international, to encourage some of Bowen’s famous-but-solitary artists to share their gifts, and generally to ‘raise the bar’ of the quality of art produced here. We might learn from such colloquia why it is that theatre groups continue to thrive here despite the lack of a venue, and why some of the most successful gatherings of professional musicians on Bowen have centred around raising funds for a common cause (like the amazing concert to help tsunami victims a few years ago).

We might start with an invitation-only monthly arts evening, with or without a stated theme, perhaps rotating among the homes of Bowen’s professional artists. Russell Hackney told us “It would be nice to have a place where like-minded artists could just hang out and swap ideas, a serious confab of professional artists dependent on their art to make a living, about how they’ve made it work on Bowen. We could start to identify and nourish a group of Bowen Island artists doing truly excellent, world class work.”

Bastien Desfriches Doria has a similar vision, and he’d like to see Bowen Island evolve to become a regular international artists’ retreat, reclaiming someDRAFT of the legacy of Lieben. Recommendation 5.2: Facilitate Professional Artist Collaborations (BIAC, local professional artists)

• Convene one or two Salons with professional artists to explore the organization of ongoing, regular monthly arts evenings of professional artists, possibly held at artists’ homes. These salons would explore opportunities for arts colloquia and retreats, and available grants and other funding options for such events, and provide a forum for professional artists to meet with peers and discuss shared challenges and possible collaborations.

Page 38 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Like Banff, the interaction between different arts here provides an opportunity for ‘cabaret’ and play, to invest our passion across artistic boundaries...” - David Smith

6. Cross-Pollinate Our Diverse Artistic Talents

The City of Fredericton’s Cultural Plan asks “How do we increase ‘cross-pollination between local artists, builders, architects, urban designers, entrepreneurs, zoning authorities, space planners, parks planners, IT people, environmentalists, and others?”

Partnering with other groups complicates decision-making, but it also helps us to collectively get more done, and probably more interesting things done. Swedish-American entrepreneur Frans Johansson calls this “The Medici Effect” — the fact that “innovation comes from diverse industries, cultures, and disciplines when they all intersect, bringing ideas from one field into another… through cross- disciplinary teams”.

Recommendation 6.1: Enable More Cross-Pollination Among Artists and Be- tween Artists and Others (BIAC, BIM, BIF, heritage groups, local media, youth groups, BI Library, interested local theatre, dance, music, visual arts, earth/fibre arts, environmental, religious, media, service clubs, architects, designers, builders, planners, and other groups) • Convene one or more SalonsDRAFT to bring together as many of the above groups as possible to explore (a) How do we increase cross-pollination among artists, and between artists and others involved in space design, place making, management and aesthetics of space; (b) What are the ‘intersections’ between the work each group does that provide fertile opportunity for creativity, innovation and breakthrough thinking? and (c) What two or three Bowen Island projects can we identify that we could specifically bring such cross-pollination to, including at least one project that involves collaboration between different types of artists, and at least one project that involves collaboration between artists and the above-noted non-artist groups.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 39 Recommendation 6.2: Develop an Artist-in-Residence Program (BIAC, BICR, heritage groups, local artists and arts groups)

• Work with Bowen Heritage and other organizations to develop and establish an Artists in Residence program, possibly situated at the heritage cottages in the Orchard.

The purpose of this program would be to assist artists with:

• development of networks

• creative renewal through research and critical reflection

• research and creation of artworks, curatorial projects, or critical writings

• professional development through mentorship, networking, training, and/or collaboration

DRAFT

Page 40 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “There are lots of good ideas out there, but everyone’s just too stretched to volunteer any more time.”

- Carol Cram

7. Develop Strategies to Prevent Volunteer and Employee Burnout

Along with a shortage of performance facilities, and inadequate funding, one of the top three challenges facing BC arts groups, according to a recent Hill Associates study, is the rate of burnout of volunteers and employees in the creative and cultural industries. This is particularly a challenge on Bowen, with its array of arts and cultural activities, its high proportion of exhausted and sometimes disengaged commuters, and the financial and other struggles of individuals. Bowen Islanders often complain that “It’s always the same people being asked to commit their time and energies to yet another not-for-profit project.” Some people are surprised to know that, despite the high proportion of Bowen Islanders over 40 and over 60, the proportion of people on Bowen who are actually retired is actually lower than in the Greater Vancouver Regional District as a whole. As a result, many of our seniors are being asked to fit in volunteer hours with an already busy work schedule. In addition, many Bowen Islanders are working two or more jobs to compensate for the low wages of available local jobs.

Not surprisingly, residents have noted an increasing reluctance to do volunteer work and to otherwise participate in artistic and culturalDRAFT activities. As Hans Behm has noted, we have quite a few extraordinary philanthropists who are wonderful champions of the arts and culture here, but their financial donations can’t be effectively leveraged with volunteer efforts if the number and energy of our volunteers is maxed out. We also have some excellent models of organizations that seem exceptionally capable of recruiting and retaining volunteers, like the Knick Knack Nook, due to its ‘knack’ for welcoming volunteers and making them comfortable, and the Legion and Bowen Lodge which hold volunteer appreciation events.

As noted earlier, a shortage of time is the primary reason cited for why Bowen Islanders don’t participate in and attend more artistic and cultural activities as well. So what can we do?

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 41 A 2008 report by VolunteerBC on the State of the Volunteer noted that young British Columbians have different expectations and standards when it comes to volunteering. They prefer to volunteer for fixed-term projects rather than for roles. In addition, there is an ever- growing “volunteer leader deficit” in BC. The report notes, however, that the mainstay of volunteer recruitment and retention remains what it always has been: telling the story of the organization’s work in a way that conveys and establishes a strong sense of “connection to the cause”. Almost 30% of BC volunteer work is in the arts, culture and recreation sectors, and 10% of the volunteers put in 50% of the total volunteer hours (over 360 hours/year each). Almost half of BC’s citizens do some volunteer work and volunteers are overwhelmingly women. The average number of hours per citizen is declining largely as a result of other time commitments. Administrative and high-stress volunteer jobs have the highest rates of burnout.

Even on a conservative valuation basis, the 5,000 volunteer hours put in by BIAC members each year have a higher value than all its grants combined.

Recommendation 7.1: Establish a Bowen Island Volunteer Centre (BIAC, BIF, other non-profit organizations on Bowen)

• Work with other organizations to develop a Bowen Island Volunteer Centre, modelled on the 35 similar Centres in BC, and particularly Volunteer Salt Spring, with the support of the Bowen Island Foundation and the larger non-profits on Bowen, including BIAC. This Centre would allow Bowen organizations to post their current volunteer needs online, provide the means for Bowen Islanders to respond and volunteer to meet any of these needs, and provide information on volunteering, volunteer management, and local resources, including periodic workshops on volunteer leadership, volunteer energy management, organizational development, and organization and project funding.

Recommendation 7.2: Establish Volunteer Appreciation Strategies (BIAC, BIF, other non-profit organizations on Bowen)

• Develop ongoing events to recognize and celebrate arts and culture volunteers. DRAFT

Page 42 Bowen Island Cultural Plan 8. Support Awareness of Local Artists in the Global Marketplace

Amazon. YouTube. FedEx. With the explosion of online marketing, streaming video of every conceivable type of entertainment and event, and door-to-door delivery, the marketplace for everything — including artistic and cultural offerings — has been transformed into a global one. How does a small Bowen business — and artists and craftspeople are all essentially small businesspeople selling their products — compete in this global marketplace?

While supporting the arts and culture on Bowen, BIAC has learned a great deal about marketing. The monthly gallery receptions, for example, blend our love of casual social interaction with exposure to a clever mix of traditional and edgyDRAFT exhibitions in a wide variety of media, some of them very innovative. BIAC also knows how to tap into our love of gentle competition and charity, for example, during its annual Mini-Gala auction fundraiser. BIAC also understands our love of telling and hearing our own “Made on Bowen” stories, and that the key to getting events and ideas accepted on Bowen is to make them consistent, recurring, and reliable, and to be patient. It takes time for things to be accepted here.

BIAC has also learned to master the four elements of a successful event: organization, imagination, connection, and perseverance.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 43 Recommendation 8.1: Re-brand BIAC (BIAC, local artists, Storytellings Inc.)

• As a mature organization, soon to be hitting its 30th year, BIAC is ready to take a lead in promoting artists in the global marketplace. However it needs to better reflect contemporary sensibilities in terms of its identity and purpose. The nonprofit will undertake a branding exercise, possibly adopting a new name such as ArtsBowen, which is more inclusive of its mandate and mission. Working in conjunction with local artists, the organization will develop and embrace an updated “story”, new graphic ID and logo and a fresh visage moving forward.

Recommendation 8.2: Improve Arts and Culture Messaging (BIAC, Bowen Island Public Library, Tourism Bowen Island, local private enterprises, BC Ferries, local artists and arts groups)

• Invest in a set of five to ten bulletin boards and post them in high-traffic areas sheltered from weather such as the library, dock kiosk, visitors’ centre, and ferry terminal, along with some retailers.

• Assign volunteers to monitor the boards, keep them clean and current, and update them weekly.

• Ensure accessibility of the weekly events poster and/or event brochures.

• Manage the arts and culture bulletin board on the Bowen ferry.

• Convene a salon to explore additional opportunities to improve publicity, messaging and notifications about Bowen Island arts and cultural events.

Bowen Islanders without access to automobiles consistently told us that they have difficulties getting to local events and venues, particularly after dark or when the bus doesn’t run. This is especially a concern for older islanders with health or mobility issues. In our survey, 70% of respondents asked for either a late-night ferry or a special bus-and-water-taxi service to take them to and from Vancouver for artistic and cultural events.

Recommendation 8.3: Work with Other Organizations to book Shuttle Buses for Events DRAFT (BIAC, BIM, Bowen Island Municipality Transportation Advisory Committee, other organizations holding events on Bowen Island)

• Explore with other organizations options for booking shuttle buses to assist people in getting to and from special events.

Page 44 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “We should hold ses- sions here on how to innovate, how to attract and engage the type of creative risk-takers who, if they knew about this place, would want to move here, and support them.” - Holly Graff

9. Enable Leading Edge Art, Innovation and Technology

When we talked with Bowen Islanders, we were amazed at their creative capacity, ability to think laterally, and deep intellectual curiosity that often extended far beyond their specialization. Diana Izdebski took up painting when she came to Bowen. Her most memorable story is about winning the crosswalk design contest with her salmon design. Multi-talented artist Pauline Le Bel would love to learn the Squamish language. Earth artist Jeanne Sarich wants to make a film. The world of the arts is rapidly changing, and Bowen’s artists are up for the challenge.

The multi-media, paint-over-photo artwork depicted above is by Ron Woodall, using a complex, largely self-invented process that has endeared him to hundreds of Bowen Islanders. Most of his works using this process are informal portraits of Bowen islanders, posted on his Facebook page and in Bowen restaurants. The photo above is part of a series of Bowen heritage photos that capture both the mood of the time and place. Innovation is about doing somethingDRAFT different, or doing something differently. It is inherently risky, disruptive, edgy: wearable art, computer-generated imaging, renting rather than buying art. Innovation entails looking at “weak signals” of emerging changes and exploring how to capitalize on them. Successful innovation can transform an art form or ignite an entirely new one. Technology is innovation’s servant, a vehicle to make it more accessible. Leading edge art requires both innovation and technology. Bowen’s artists, to excel, need both.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 45 Recommendation 9.1: Conduct a Workshop on Arts Innovation (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, local artists, private sector organizations)

• Offer a workshop or series of workshops on innovation designed specifically for artists but appropriate for any creative enterprise. The workshop would teach participants about the innovation process and how to apply it to their work. In return, the participants would identify potential innovations in their artistic field that might help differentiate Bowen Island. In addition, the workshop could provide artists with guidelines for promoting Bowen and attracting other leading-edge artists, customers interested in leading-edge arts offerings, and arts educators to Bowen Island.

Recommendation 9.2: Conduct a Workshop on Digital Media and the Arts (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, private sector organizations, youth groups, local artists)

• Offer programming on digital media designed specifically for artists but appropriate for any creative enterprise. The program would teach participants about the impact of digital media on the production, promotion, and consumption of artistic and cultural goods and services, and how to use digital media more creatively and effectively in their work, and support film, broadcast, multi-media artists and producers to develop their vocations locally.

Recommendation 9.3: Create an Arts Idea Incubator (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, local artists, private sector organizations)

• Create a “virtual incubator” of new arts ideas by holding periodic meetings with some of Bowen’s most creative and imaginative minds. Identify the intractable issues facing Bowen Island’s arts and cultural community, and explore ways of dealing with them. Identify “best practices” used by arts incubators in other communities and institute them here.

In the process of interviewing Bowen Islanders to create this Plan, we identified several candidates to lead such an “incubator” group, and they have already expressed an interest in such a project.

In talking with Bowen Islanders about what they thought was our most memorable and valuable artistic and cultural events, we learned something else: That interest and energy around such events and activities, like everything else, goes in cycles. The fact thatDRAFT attendance at an annual event wanes (perhaps leading to its cancellation) doesn’t always mean it’s a failure and that it has run its course. Sometimes such projects just need to lie fallow for a few years, before their value is appreciated once more and energy to organize them, perhaps with new faces in charge and tweaks to the original concept, rises again. Likewise, some projects are just too far ahead of their time, and need to wait until Bowen Islanders are ready to come around to them before they can find their audience.

Page 46 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Because of our small population and artistic diversity, there’s less specialization and elitism, and it’s easier to integrate young people into our cultural fabric.”

- Gail Lotenberg

10. Engage Youth & Families in the Arts

Young children, teenagers and young adults each have different artistic and cultural interests, and different ways of engaging with the arts, compared to those of the older generation that many traditional arts programs target. We have to be willing and able to meet each age cohort on its own terms, understand what they care about and what drives them, engage them in projects tailored specifically to them, and support them in their own initiatives.

We face a particular challenge getting the attention of young people in their teens, twenties and thirties whose tastes in artistic and cultural activities, and the types of purchases they make (and their willingness and ability to pay for them), are highly diverse and rapidly evolving. Their tastes tend to be very particular, since they have such a cornucopia of online arts and entertainment to choose from. They are more inclined to want access to artistic and entertainment content (e.g., streaming and cloud-based media) than ownership of it. In some respects (e.g., self-made videos, music compilations and remixes, and photo-shopped art), theyDRAFT seem more interested in production than consumption of creative works, but in other ways they consume art (music especially) in much vaster quantities. We need to hear and understand young people when they tell us what they are interested in producing and consuming. Our goal should be to find ways to adapt our marketing and other activities to engage and support them and to collaborate with them.

Tracy McLachlan, of Bowen Island Family Place, points out the importance of kids’ arts activities offering fun and choice, and a variety of modes that include physical movement (e.g., dance), and that they be interactive, learning adventures where young people participate as equals and on their own terms (e.g., inviting students to interview artists and then edit and post the resulting interviews).

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 47 Another challenge is that young parents are particularly busy and therefore not able to participate in yet more events. Young parents also may not be able to afford such events, even if they can find time for them.

Our schools have active, healthy arts programs, but often non-parents are unaware of them. Likewise, parents and individual artists offer youth arts programs of all types. In addition, organizations such as Tir- na-Nog, the Dance Academy, the Voice Academy, Penryn Academy, and individual music teachers offer children and youth many opportunities for artistic training and expression.

BIAC has initiated and continues to offer programs and events specifically tailored to youth and families, such as Art for the Birds event. It mounts at least one youth exhibit each year featuring young artists. BIAC’s summer students are encouraged to organize youth-oriented events with BIAC support and sponsorship, and some of BIAC’s summer buskers are young people. Other arts activities that integrate young people have included gingerbread decorating, jazz nights, karaoke and “open mic’’ events and community Halloween activities.

Recommendation 10.1: Increase Participation of Youth in Arts Programs (BIAC, BIM Youth Services Coordinator, Bowen Community Recreation, Bowen Island Community School, Island Pacific School, Island Discovery Learning Centre, Montessori School, Bowen Island Children’s Centre, youth and school groups, local media, youth-oriented art, dance, music and choral groups)

Work with local schools, youth groups, and identified youth leaders in our community to create a Young People in the Arts program by 2018, to include:

• at least two collaborative arts-related projects each year with a youth focus, jointly developed and cross- promoted,

• profiling and celebrating young artists in BIAC’s artist directory and in the newspaper and newsletter,

• the inclusion of selected school and youth group arts-related activities and events in BIAC’s weekly calendar, and

• identification and encouragement of non-school activities and venues that accommodate youth arts performances and youth involvement including Bowfest, “open mic” events, and dance, land art, improv, Eat Drink Paint-type programs, music andDRAFT choir activities. Recommendation 10.2: Develop a youth mentorship program (BIAC, youth and school groups, local media, youth-oriented art, dance, music and choral groups, Bowen artists and arts groups)

• Develop a program to support our youth by offering arts mentorship/apprenticeship. This program will recognize that the blossoming of youth expresses itself in simple ways as the magical and creative impulse continually looks to engage and share with the world. As the children of this community learn skills, they will be able to offer these to the younger hopefuls, as well as ask for mentoring with those in community of a higher skill level. This program would include a review of the youth mentorship model currently used in the Island Pacific School “masterworks” program.

Page 48 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Recommendation 10.3: Establish a Media Arts Initiative (BIAC, youth and school groups, local artists with expertise in gaming and videography)

• Convene a salon of young people and video artists to identify opportunities for the development of video and gaming arts skills including videography, video scripting, game design, programming and other skills related to the production of professional-quality video and video games and technologies on Bowen.

DRAFT

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 49 “Each of us brings our own story and culture to our collective activi- ties. We have to find the way our individual passion and culture fits into and evolves the collective culture.” - David Smith

11. Build Pathways to Mastery to Support Each Artist’s Learning Journey

Something happens to people who come to Bowen. Even if they never considered themselves artistic or creative, they often suddenly have the urge to take up an art or craft, take a class, join a choir, start taking photographs, write a novel or memoir. And people who stopped artistic activities suddenly take them up again, or shift to some new art form they’ve never considered before, and launch amazing new careers as a result. Suddenly, the reticence, the shyness, the feeling of “not being good enough” to practice an art evaporates.

Something about Bowen Island invokes the artist in us. Perhaps it’s the incredible natural beauty of this place, or its quirky people. Or perhaps it’s just that each of us wants to tell our own story. The people who live here delight to hear “only on Bowen” stories, and to share and celebrate the story of who we are collectively. They love visual art that portrays the island, songs about it, films about it, even negative media about it. We love locally-made and locally-brandedDRAFT foods and crafts. Local bands often outdraw well-known acts from the mainland. As Chris Corrigan puts it, “We like to see and consume ourselves”.

How do we enable every Bowen Islander to see their self as an artist? Perhaps the best way to start is to show them the array of arts and crafts practiced on Bowen, and tell the stories of how or why practitioners discovered their passion for them:

When people talk about places as “arts destinations” they generally mean places tourists go to appreciate and buy works of art. Seattle’s glassworks, Ashland Oregon’s theatre, New Mexico’s nature-inspired photography and painting all come to mind. Wolfgang Duntz thinks we’d be smarter to follow the European example: “European villages have thrived for centuries by attracting excellent artists and using them to draw students, rather than tourists”. He dreams of establishing an arts college here where world-class artists would teach gifted students.

Page 50 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Recommendation 11.1: Create a Mentorship & Mastery Program for Aspiring Arts Professionals (BIAC, local artists and arts groups, arts education groups)

• Convene a salon, including aspiring arts professionals, arts educators, and artists who are acknowledged masters in their fields, to explore developing a “mentorship and mastery” program that could be personalized to meet each aspiring professional’s needs.

Recommendation 11.2: Explore Options for a Professional Arts College on Bowen (BIAC, Economic Development Committee, BIM, local artists and arts groups, arts education groups)

• Convene a salon to explore the idea of creating a professional arts college on Bowen Island, including identifying education and arts’ group partners in such a venture, deciding upon a possible focus (many European Arts Colleges are specialized), and considering who might be invited as renowned faculty (to attract high-calibre students and differentiate us from other Arts Colleges). Include consideration of “virtual college” alternatives such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for college offerings. Review the programs currently offered by the Gibsons School of the Arts, and consider opportunities for collaborating with them.

DRAFT

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 51 “You don’t have to be big to do this: Salt Spring Island raised enough through corporate sponsorships to offer a $25,000 prize for its national juried art com- petition and garnered 500 entries and a lot of atten- tion from artists across the country.” - Bill Hoopes

12. Celebrate Excellence: Awards, Competitions and Events

One way to encourage mastery and accomplishment in creative work, and to move thinking past “That’s pretty good… for Bowen Island” is by recognizing and rewarding outstanding achievements (on-island and off) by Bowen Artists, and by challenging artists, through competitions with significant prizes, to take their skill level up a notch. Another way is through festivals that are celebrations of music and other arts in their own right. The city of Victoria has a poet laureate, an annual book prize for local authors, and a multicultural festival that highlights performance arts.

Recommendation 12.1: Celebrate the Arts Through Awards, Competitions and Festivals DRAFT (BIAC, BIM, Bowen Island Community Recreation, private sector sponsors, local artists and arts groups)

Create a Celebrations Committee to identify:

• criteria for an annual Arts Awards event,

• ideas for an annual regional juried arts competition and ways to fund it, and

• ideas for an annual Bowen Island music festival with local musicians “hosting” selected regional bands, and a concurrent multidisciplinary Summer Arts Festival.

Page 52 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “The arts are critical to the health and well-being of the community.” - Shari Ulrich

“Creating teaches you about your subject; it is a healing process.” - David Adams

13. Recognize Art as a Healing and Connecting Resource

Paul Hooson talked to us about the role of the clown. “Clowns epitomize the vulnerability and humanitarianism of the artist”, he said. “Our ethic is kindness. It’s improvisational, a conversation. Therapeutic clowning (my job) requires strong boundaries. Sometimes it’s just caring and listening. Finding a way to make people feel better about their lives.” The US National Institutes of Health report that four types of art have demonstrated healing benefits: music therapy, visual arts therapy, movement- based creative expression, and expressive writing.

Art is even more than therapeutic; it is a means of deeply connecting us with each other, with our cultures (past and present) and with the land and all the other forms of life we share it with. It can instill in us a profound appreciation for our culture, give us a sense of place and belonging, teach us about our environment, bring us closer together, and serve as an agent for real change in our community and society.

Recommendation 13.1: Develop a “Healing Power of the Arts” Initiative (BIAC, First Nations, wellness organizations,DRAFT environmental organizations) Convene a salon to explore and discuss the benefits of the arts as a healing resource, with the goal of :

• hosting a regional conference on the subject, and/or

• hosting an event at the Gallery with this theme, and

• assessing what a Bowen Island ‘”Healing Power of the Arts” initiative might entail.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 53 For example, it might provide a forum for us to act upon the final report and recommendations of Canada’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission. It might provide bridges between our love of nature and our love of art and music. It might identify collaborations between artists, spiritual teachers and therapists. Or it might help us see what we all value in common in moments when we feel divided, and hence help us move past our differences.

Art is intimately connected with our search for life’s meaning, our appreciation for mystery (what cannot be explained through knowledge or science), and our striving to protect, nurture, steward and improve ourselves, our loved ones, our communities and the more-than-human world. Terms like spirituality, faith and sacredness have been used both by religions and by secular movements to describe this sense of the importance of the more-than-material in life. As a “re-presentation” or expression of our culture and our essential nature, art contributes to this search, this striving, and this appreciation. How can we recognize and encourage this connection?

Recommendation 13.2: Develop a “Connection Through the Arts” Initiative (Local artists and art groups, spiritual, faith and environmental groups)

• Convene a salon to explore the connection between art, spirit, meaning, mystery, and the land as it manifests itself through our island’s unique and evolving culture.

DRAFT

Page 54 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Meetings cost a whole day. What if we had a place in Horseshoe Bay or West Van- couver where Bowen Islanders could hold meetings etc.” - Kat Hayduk

14. Acquire a Shared Space Off the Rock?

Sometimes it’s hard to make connections with fellow artists in Vancouver because we’re just not “in the scene”, laments Emily van Lidth de Jeude. When the idea of a “space off the rock” was first raised the biggest question that arose was: “Someone must have suggested that before — why didn’t it work then?” We don’t know the answer to that. But we’re intrigued enough to explore the idea.

A space “off the rock” provides all kinds of possible benefits if properly configured. The space could provide meeting room in Horseshoe Bay or West Van, display areas for Bowen artists and crafters, and information for tourists and potential “immigrants” to Bowen. The space could provide an inexpensive place for an overnight stay for those who missed the last ferry. It could be a real “showcase” for what Bowen has to offer.

Recommendation 14.1: Lease or Co-Lease a Shared, Multi-Use Space on The Mainland to Showcase Bowen Island

(BIAC, Economic Development Committee, Tourism Bowen Island, private sector, local artists and arts groups)

• Convene a salon to explore opportunities for leasing a multi-use space showcasing Bowen Island and providing meeting, display, tourism, “moving to Bowen”, emergency accommodation, and other capabilities, in HorseshoeDRAFT Bay or another strategic mainland location.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 55 15. Support Awareness of local First Nation’s Culture

The community of Bowen Island is situated on unceded territory of the Squamish Nation. Recognition of this fact and awareness and appreciation of the culture and heritage of first people’s of Canada is integral to ensuring a healthy thriving community. Additionally, Canadians have been challenged to become familiar with the recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings, subsequent report and Call to Action. Arts have a responsibility to ensure First Nations are consulted and included in all aspects of our creative development and experiences. The successful Authentically Aboriginal event in 2015 provided evidence that Bowen Islanders are keen to learn about the history and culture of First Nations through the arts.

Recommendation 15.1: Work with groups to develop awareness, education and understanding of local First Nations Culture and Heritage (BIAC, heritage groups, Bowen Island PublicDRAFT Library, local schools, BIM) • Review Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and Call for Action, and develop programs to implement specific calls for action.

Recommendation 15.2: Celebrate First Nations Culture & Heritage through arts events and activities (BIAC, First Nations community members, other arts organizations)

• Work with First Nations to present artistic expressions of First Nation’s culture and heritage via exhibit, celebrations and other activities.

• Explore the development of an annual Heritage Fair incorporating events about past and present First Nations’ culture on Bowen.

Page 56 Bowen Island Cultural Plan 16. Create Awareness and Protection of Cultural Heritage

The Bowen Island Arts Council has a mandate to work with the island’s cultural groups to support cultural projects and heritage preservation. The cancellation of Steamship Days creates a void in heritage-related activities that needs to be filled. In addition to the expansion of the Heritage Walk recommended earlier in this report, here are the Plan’s recommendations to advance this objective:

Recommendation 16.1: Establish Lieben as a Historical Cultural Site (BIAC, heritage groups, governments)

• Apply to have Lieben designated as a National Heritage Site, and promote awareness of its significance to the arts in Canada through interpretive signage, site tours and events, and, if grants are available, a commemorativeDRAFT book and/or performances.

Recommendation 16.2 : Create Events Celebrating our Cultural Heritage (BIAC, First Nations community members, heritage groups)

• Work with heritage and other organizations to tell the story of the history of Bowen, through the development of an annual heritage fair or festival, interpretive displays, media initiatives, publishing of books, exhibits, etc.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 57 E. Plan Evaluation & Review

How we will measure success and learn and evolve as needs change?

Each of the Recommendations of this Plan is SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

BIAC will convene a Cultural Plan Review committee, to include a Council liaison, BIM staff member, members from the Cultural Plan Steering Committee and a BIAC staff member. The mandate of this committee is to meet bi-annually to:

• Assess the status of each recommendation (achieved, in progress, not started)

• Identify and propose the need for additions, amendments, re-prioritizations and deletions of recommendations

• Obtain concurrence from the Board of BIAC on the status assessments and proposed changes

• Present the status report and proposed changes to the Municipality as amendments to the Cultural Master Plan bylaw appendices.

• Bring any concerns or proposed changes expressed by staff or Councillors back to BIAC for response and appropriate action

Our expectation is that this process will enable this Plan to be a ‘living document’ that will evolve as needed over the coming decade, so that when the Plan comes up for its decennial review in ten years, the task of updating it will be straightforward.

DRAFT

Page 58 Bowen Island Cultural Plan F. BOWEN 2025: A Thriving Arts-and- Culture Driven Community

A Future State Story

By Dave Pollard

It’s been a long week for Alex, a new artist on Bowen in the summer of 2025. She’s rehearsing for a new comedy at the community-owned Theatre-in-the-Cove, Bowen’s five-year-old performing arts centre. The uniquely-designed space includes a low-cost soft-wall membrane and an adjacent permanent outdoor Amphitheatre built entirely of local materials by Bowen residents. The Theatre is booked 200 days a year and the 50-seat Amphitheatre is a popular gathering place and the site of many small advertised and impromptu concerts, amateur performances and soapbox speeches. Island Pacific School students are currently doing very hammy versions of old Star Trek episodes on Sunday afternoons.

ArtsBowen has leased two other buildings on different parts of the island. One in Artisan Square (now largely re-purposed as a low-cost residential area where many of Bowen’s artists live and share co- working spaces) serves as a workshop and ‘maker space’; the other on Bowen’s west side serves as a meeting space for arts and cultural activities. Like the Theatre, both buildings are located beside restaurants which provide catering, food and bar services. ArtsBowen’s “ArtSpace Directory” lists 30 ‘arts and culture spaces’ (restaurants, churches and other private facilities with display and performance spaces, plus audio and video recording studios, retreat and workshop spaces, etc.) that can be booked online, with discounts and subsidies available to ArtsBowen members.

Multi-year funding from the Municipality guarantees stable funding for ArtsBowen’s activities and thanks to large donations from six Bowen Islanders and smaller ones from hundreds of others, the Theatre and the eight-year old Cove Commons project with the Library generate enough revenues to cover operating shortfalls. There are few remaining naysayers about the value of public support and funding for the arts.

Bowen is now renowned for its Public Art and particularly its Land Art, which draws hundreds each spring to our annual competition. On her walk to work, Alex passes more than a dozen public and land art works, along with heritageDRAFT kiosks showing photos of Bowen’s early history adjacent to heritage sites. Photographers and painters abound along the Heritage Path, part of Bowen’s burgeoning cross-island trail network and part of the expanding Spirit Trail.

Copies of the popular weekly What’s On On Bowen newsletter are snapped up on the ferry, and from notice board dispensers, and avidly read as inserts to both the Undercurrent and the Office newsletter. The online version now allows us to buy tickets to events with one click, and to add events we want to see to our personal calendar.

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 59 As a result of the drop in Canadian housing prices in recent years, the influx of artists and artisans seeking to make a home on Bowen has resumed, and the arrival of a famous Canadian painter, three superstar musicians, and a renowned Canadian actor has generated a lot of buzz. Just like always, however, people greet them at the grocery stores and BIRD as if they were just old friends.

Arts Meetup Bowen, the online service that lets amateur artists and musicians gather and collaborate, has been a huge success, with dozens of informal ‘meetups’ each month. Sometimes ‘celebrity’ guests pop by. In addition, the Guide to Starting and Marketing a Cultural Enterprise on Bowen has been a best-seller, now picked up by a major publisher and customized to help artists in other communities. Still, we have more than our share of struggling artists, amateur and professional alike. Some things never change.

The Arts College idea is proving to be challenging, but a local resort has now become a popular destination for week-long retreats by arts students and visiting teachers. Perhaps the idea will just need time.

The Gulf Island Art Prize now attracts enough attention that the awards ceremony is locally televised, and the Cascadia Roots music festival on the south shore of Bowen attracts hundreds of people each year.

The Integrated Transportation Master Plan has radically improved water taxi service to and from our island, enabling more of us to stay late in the city and still make it home to our beds at night. The wryly- named Bowen Island Embassy (our shared space off the rock in Horseshoe Bay) has greatly increased the visibility of our island and its artists on the mainland, and provided a great convenience to Islanders. Its ‘commissioners’ cheerfully stamp Bowen Island ‘passports’ for amused tourists and curious children, as they wish travelers a safe voyage to our amazing island, and again when they sail back to ‘the continent’.

DRAFT

Page 60 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Appendices

DRAFT

Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 61